Traditional Icelandic Food

Well, today I ate plenty of things I never thought I’d ever eat. Liiiiiike sour whale, ram’s testicles, sheeps head jelly, pickled herring and the dreaded fermented (aka rotten) shark. Eek! All of these were included in a sample platter at Cafe Loki (recommended by local tour guide, Eric). The cafe is located right across the street from the famous Hallgrimskirkja church.

I wasn’t super excited about diving into the bites below… Famed Chef Anthony Bourdain has said the fermented shark is the “single worst and most disgusting thing” he’s ever eaten in HIS LIFE. And dude has eaten plenty of crazy things around the world…so I was rightfully scared.

Tyler posing below with her bites of ram testicles. They were the worst things (tied with sour whale) on the dish in my opinion. I managed to get through the fermented shark pretty easily; it wasn’t as bad as everyone claims it is.

Other bites on the dish included blood sausage, liver sausage, dried lamb and dried fish…

Below is a whale steak dish from another cafe we went to…it wasn’t what I expected at all. I was expecting it to look more like the sour whale above (white strip third from the right) but it was more like eating a gamey land animal and I actually liked it. So if you want more normal, delicious Icelandic food go here: Ostabúðin.

Iceland is certainly an adventure! I’d also really recommend the famous lamb hot dog stand. Oh, and the tap water here is great! Pure, and straight from the glaciers. Woooo! Off to Barcelona tomorrow (but not before a quick 13 hr layover in London)!